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Mr. David H. Miller, of Georgetown, Connecticut, whose port- 
rait and fac-simile autograph appear above, was the major of the 
Twenty-third Connecticut Volunteer Infantrj- ; and he is now 
1190S1 the President of the Regimental Association. 



in THE LIIWLIIIIB!! OF LODISIHIIII IN 



An Address Delivered By 
REV. ANDREW M. SHERMAN 

At the Forty-second Annual Reunion of the 
Twenty-third Conn. Regimental Association 

HELD AT 

Steeplechase Island, Bridgeport, Connecticut 

Go Thursday, August 20, 1908 
[Published by Request] 






The Howard Publishing Company 
Morristown , N . J • 



The '"Jerseyman" Press 
Morristown, X. J. 



1^7 



In the Lowlands of Louisiana in i863. 



Mr. President axd Comrades : 

It is a great pleasure to me to meet with you again ; to 
look once more into your faces, and to again have the oppor- 
tunity of renewing acquaintance with old and tried friends of 
days long gone hy. 

I sincerely regret that I have not met with you more fre- 
quently in the years past ; but I hope to be able, in future, to 
meet with you a few times more, at least. 

On the iith of February last, it was my privilege to deliv- 
er, in connection with a series of public entertainments given 
under the auspices of the Post of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic of which I have the honor of being the Commander, an Ad- 
dress on "In the Lowlands of Louisiana in 1863." 

Through the courtesy of our beloved President, I am to re- 
peat that Address on the present occasion. 

It has seemed best to me, all things considered, not to make 
any material alterations in the construction of the Address as de- 
livered' before my Post, and its guests; but to give it to you, 
substantially, in its original form. 

You will notice, as I proceed, that with few exceptions, I 
have omitted mention of names of Comrades of our regiment ; 
Init I am certain that most of you, at least, will experience no 
difficulty in inferring the names of Comrades referred to in the 
various incidents and episodes related. 

In the treatment of the subject in hand. I shall, of course, 
be able only to (ouch here and there. 

On the evening of the 19th of April, 1861, only five days, as 
you will note, alter the assault on Fort Sumter, a war meeting 
was held in the thriving manufacturing village in New Haven 
County, Connecticut, of which I was then a resident. I was at 



4 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1S65. 

the time sixteen years of age, and on the 5th of the following' 
month I would be seventeen. 

At that war meeting, held in the largest hall in the village, 
there were nearly a thousand persons present, the hall heing 
packed from j^latform to vestibule, inclusive ot both ; and some, 
indeed, were sitting or standing on the long flight of stairs lead- 
ing from the street up to the hall. 

Ringing resolutions of allegiance to the government at Wash- 
ington were unanimously adopted ; patriotic speeches were made, 
the echoes of which I can almost hear, after the lapse of nearly 
half a century; a liberal sum of money for war purposes was 
pledged, and this was increased on the following day, and an 
enlistment paper was opened for recruits for a company, to pro- 
ceed in due course, with its regiment, to the seat of hostilities in 
the South, 

Without stopping to consider the matter of my age, I went 
to the platform, and boldly affixed my signature to the enlistment 
paper. One of my older brothers, who had also signed the roll, 
(juietly whispered a few words in the ear of the Chairman of the 
meeting, and, presto ! my name was promptly erased from the 
list of recruits. 

Upon ascertaining the action of the Chairman of the meet- 
ing, I immediately mounted the deep casing of one of the large 
windows, and gave expression to my keen disappointment at not 
being permitted to enlist, in what was my maiden patriotic 
speech. 

Before the war meeting closed, nearly an entire company of 
recruits had volunteered for service in the gathering Union army. 

The company was duly organized and officered, and, bear- 
ing with it the hearty Godspeeds of the people, it proceeded to 
the seat of war with the regiment to which it had been assigned 
— the Second Connecticut Volunteer Infantry ; and with this reg- 
iment, it participated in the first battle of Btdl Run. 

Although, by reason of my insufficient age, I had not been 

permitted to be among the first troops from my resident State to 

engage in the Civil War, I waited, not always patiently, I have 

■ to confess, for the arrival of the time when the age consideration 



IX THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLIXA IN 1S63. 5 

would, in my case, be obliterated, and I too, could don the 
Union blue. 

Meanwhile I read with increasing avidity the daily newspa- 
pers, and in that way kept myself well informed concerning the 
movements of the Union and Confederate armies in their various 
and widespread fields of operation. 

As might have been expected, this omniverous readnig of 
the daily press only fanned into a brighter fiame the ardent de- 
sire of my heart to become, as soon as possible, a part of the 
Union forces then struggling for the preservation of national 
unity. 

How well do I remember, Mr. President and Comrades, as 
if it was only yesterday, the intense excitement with which the 
very atmosphere of the north was charged, in those early days 
of the Civil War ! 

How vivid is my recollection of the elation of the people at 
home, in the " Nutmeg State," over the successes of the Union 
forces ; and of the awful depression following the reverses suf- 
fered by our armies, which in the opening months of the war 
were so frequent, and at times, so appalling ! 

Many times during those anxious days I was almost im- 
pelled to enter the service, regardless of my insufficient age and 
of the entreaties of my friends. 

Chafing, however, like a three year-old-colt in harness, I 
remained at home until I could honorably, and with the approval 
of my friends, become one of Lincoln's boys in blue. 

On the 5th of May, 1862, I was eighteen years of age ; and, 
in the month of July following, I enlisted, and was duly assigned 
to Company F of a so-called nine months regiment — the Twen- 
ty-third Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. I say a "so-called 
nine months regiment,"" because this regiment was in the service 
an entire year. 

Among the memories of our sojourn at Camp Terry, in New 
Haven, Connecticut, situated a mile or more southward from the 
green, are the daily drillings of the awkward squads, the echoes 
of the "left ! '" "right! ' "left!"' "right!" of which I can still 
hear ; the horror of our discovery, in the first bean soup served 
us by the company cook, of what we verily believed were tiny, 



6 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 

creeping- animals, but which were really only the eyes of the 
nutritious white bean, which subsequently became one of the 
mainstays of the boys in blue ; the company and regimental par- 
ades, often witnessed by our sweethearts and friends ; the fre- 
quent runnings of the camp guard, chiefly down near the water's 
edge, and the clandestine visits to the city, where the boys could 
see something more of life than most of them were accustomed 
to ; the scarcely less hazardous returns to camp at unseasonable 
hours of the night, and the extreme difficulty of evading the 
none-too-vigilant guard and reaching our tents without discovery 
and arrest ; the comforts and luxuries brought into camp from 
home by loving hands, by which our new outdoor life was made 
more tolerable ; the difficulty with which the boys were induced 
to put out the lights, and cease their not always musical chatter- 
ings, at the nightly sounding of "taps," and, the gradual disci- 
pline under which the regiment was brought by its, for the most 
part, considerate and capalile officers, many of whom had for 
several years been actively identified with the efficient State 
militia. 

On the 17th of November, 1862, the Twenty- third regi- 
ment broke camp at New Haven, and with about 850 officers 
and men, took the steamboat " Elm City" for New York. 

We landed at Williamsburg, and from thence marched to the 
Centerville Racecourse, in Jamaica, a distance of about ten 
miles. Here we pitched our tents on the racecourse grounds. 

At this point, named Camp Buckingham, in honor of Con- 
necticut's splendid war governor, General Banks, according to 
common report, was assembling the troops for an expedition 
southward, the destination of which, however, was unknown, 
except in Washington. 

At Camp Buckingham there were five nine months Connecti- 
cut regiments rendezvoused — the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, 
Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty-eighth. 

On the Centerville Racecourse we tirst experienced the rig- 
ors of camp life in cold weather ; and there was plenty of grumb- 
ling, I assure you. A single specimen of the grumbling indulged 
in by the boys is given in the following extract from a letter writ- 
ten home : 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISL-\NA IN 1S63. 7 

"The excessive dirt in the food, and the e.xcessive moisture 
in the lodging, form frequent subjects of complaints. All ex- 
|)erience has shown that sleeping, or trying to sleep, in three 
inches of water, in the midst of November, is not conducive to 
good health, temper, or morals." 

Less than a month ago, I found,_ in the pigeon-holes over my 
study desk at home, a letter, written with lead pencil, some por- 
tions of which are now so faint as to require the use of a strong 
magnifying glass to read and decipher them ; indeed, one line is 
almost entirely obliterated from frequent folding of the sheet. 
And little wonder; for this letter, the original of which I have 
with me to-day, vi'as written forty-six years ago. There is the 
letter ; it was written to " my best girl," the girl, who, for more 
than forty years has nobly shared with me the responsibilities and 
trials and disappointments and pleasures of life, and who is to- 
day alive, to cheer my declining years. 

I would read the entire letter to you. Comrades, but for the 
peculiarly personal character of some portions of it ; I will, how- 
ever, read to you excerpts from the letter : 

"Camp Buckingham, Jamaica, N. Y. , November 18 (1S62). 
Once more I take pencil in hand to write you a letter. * * * 
About 8 o'clock (on the morning of the 17th) I got my canteen 
and haversack, and we received orders to prepare to move. We 
struck our tent in the forenoon about eleven or twelve o'clock, 
and after waiting round we were called into line about two 
o'clock. (Here occurs the almost obliterated line, of which I 
have spoken) and then we started for the boat, and arrived about 
three o'clock, I ttiink. After staying, or waiting about an hour 
and a half we went aboard the boat. There was a great rushing 
for the berths, and I finally got a good bed. * * * * 
* * * I ate my supper and retired * * * * ^ 

and slept well. Some of the boys sat up all night playing cards. 
We stopped once in the night, and in the morning I found that 
it was at Hell Gate. I rose in the morning at half-past five and 
ate some breakfast, then I went on deck and found the boat had 
stopped between New York and Brooklyn. We turned about and 
then started for Williamsburg. The Orderly called us into line 
to march us off the boat and then we started for the shore. Co. 



8 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISL\NA IN 1S63. 

F. was the second to come off the boat. We marched up the 
street a k:)ng- way to give room for the other companies that were 
behind us. We sat on the stoops and fences, and some went 
into the houses and got their breakfasts ; others got coffee. The 
ladies threw out apples from the windows, and then there was a 
scrabbling. I did not try to get any, for I had some in my hav- 
ersack. We stopped three times, and each time the boys were 
treated to coffee. We had our breakfast, given, I suppose, by 
the city authorities. Finally we got started, and after we had 
gone about three miles it commenced to rain a little. * * * 
We rested four times on our march. It is ten miles from the 
boat to this camp. It is probably the longest march we shall 
have with our knapsacks ; some of the companies had them car- 
ried on trucks. By the time we reached the camp ground it 
rained hard, and when we got into line the captain took us to the 
place where our tents were to be pitched. In all the rain we put 
up our tent, and by the time we got through the mud was three 
inches deep. I never saw such a mudhole ! We got some straw 
and put into our tent ; but the water was running into the tent. 
I went about a quarter of a mile and got two bundles of corn- 
stalks to lie on. Toward evening I went to a tavern near by 
with several of the boys to get dry, but we remained only a short 
time. I went to bed at half-past six, for I felt sick. * * * * 
I was very sick in the night. -^ '■'' -'^ My feet were 

soaking wet, and are wet now. I am on guard to-day, but there 
being another corporal on with me I shall not do much. There 
are four regiments in this camp, the 23d, 25th and 26th Con- 
necticut Volunteers, and the 141st New York, Germans. We are 
encamped on the Centerville Racecourse. Our tent is more like 
a hog pen than like a tent, but we must endure it now. * * ^ 
To-day is quite pleasant. -■> * * Accept this from 

Yours truly, A. M. Sherman. P. S.— -l^ * '-^ * 

Write soon and direct your letter to A. M. Sherman, Centerville 
Racecourse, Jamaica, N. Y. , 23d Regt. Ct. Vols., Co. F. " 

Among the incidents of our brief sojourn at Camp Bucking- 
ham, was the receipt, on the day before Thanksgivirig, of a good- 
sized wooden box, from two sisters residing in the vicinity of 
Boston, filled with delicacies. When the box was started from 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 9 

its donors it contained, as I could but infer from general appear- 
ances, sandwiches, buttered biscuits, cake, cookies, crullers, 
mince pies, cheese and fruit. When I opened the box in camp, 
I found to my great surprise and disappointment, a most strange 
admixture of all the articles mentioned. It was, indeed, a box 
of mush, from which I was able to pick a few only of the various 
articles so tenderly placed by willing hands in the box at its place 
of departure. It was not until several years afterward that I in- 
formed my sisters of the decidedly mixed condition of the Thanks- 
giving delicacies sent me at Camp Buckingham. 

On the 30th of November, 1862, the Twenty-third and 
Twenty-eighth Regiments of Connecticut Volunteers broke camp 
at the Centerville Racecourse, and marched buoyantly down At- 
lantic Avenue, Brooklyn, to the East River. Here, seven com- 
panies of the Twenty-third and seven companies of the Twenty- 
eighth, about a thousand men in all, embarked on the steamer 
"Che-Kiang," or, in our language, the " Sea-King. " 

Whither we were going none of us certainly knew ; it was 
whispered among the boys that we were to form a part of the 
military expedition to be commanded by General Banks, and that 
was our only clew. 

Company F of the Twenty-third Connecticut Volunteers, of 
which I was a member, was among the troops that embarked on 
the "Che-Kiang" on that bleak, cold day in November, 1862. 

Barring the usual seasickness, the first few days of the voy- 
age to the southward were pleasant, and to most of the boys the 
novelty of being on the great, blue ocean was fascinating ; but 
on the 5th of December, when off Cape Hatteras, a terrific storm 
burst upon the "Che-Kiang." "The vessel," — I now quote the 
words of another — " with its freight of a thousand men, refused 
to obey the helm, and wallowed helplessly in the trough of the 
sea, shivering under the mountainous waves ; while flash after 
tiash of lurid lightning revealed the terrors of the situation." 

Men trembled who never trembled before; men knelt in fer- 
vent prayer on the sea-washed decks of the "Che-Kiang" who had 
not, perhaps, prayed since the innocent days of " Now I lay me 
down to sleep "; and many whose lives had been far from exem- 



lo IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISL\NA IN 1S63. 

plary vowed future obedience, if only the storm would abate and 
the imperiled vessel reach her destination in safety. 

Alas 1 how few of those solemn vows were remembered, or,, 
jf remembered, were performed. 

The " Che-Kiang,'' with her precious human freight, weath- 
ered the storm ; and after an uneventful voyage of a few days 
touched at theTortugas, at the southwestern extremity of Florida. 

From the Tortugas the steamer made a quick passage 
through the placid waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with its myriad 
of porpoises, which seemed to be rolling round and round in the 
blue waters like so many wheels, but which were simply coming- 
to the surface of the vj'ater, showing for a moment a small por- 
tion of the back, and then suddenly disappearing. To men un- 
accustomed to the sight it was one of extraordinary interest. 

At Ship Island, in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico, 
the men on the "Che-Kiang" disembarked. Here they remained 
long enough to recover somewhat from the effects of their rough 
sea voyage. 

The following description of Ship Island, written home by 
the Rev. Richard Wheatley, chaplain of the Twenty-eighth Con- 
necticut, will convey some idea of it : 

" This low sandbank is the creation of the restless Mexican 
(julf. It boasts but little vegetation. A few grasses, cacti, flow- 
ering herbs and shrubs, and some stunted pines, exhaust the list. 
Nor is the fauna more extensive than the flora. A dilapidated 
cow and an untimely calf, some splendid horses and refractory 
mules, ugly alligators, venomous spiders and spiteful mosquitos 
would chiefly claim the attention of the naturalist. The encir- 
cling waves swarm with fish." 

Re-embarking on board steamer, the men of the Twenty- 
third and Twenty-eighth Connecticut proceeded by way of the 
INlissiesippi River to New Orleans. 

It was on the 17th of December, 1862, that these two regi- 
ments pitched their tents at Camp Parapet, which was one of the 
outer defences of the Crescent City, on the north. Here they 
drilled and performed camp-guard duty. 

One of the peculiarities of Camp Parapet, situated on the 
bank of the swiftly-flowing Mississippi River, was the great sud- 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOrLSL\NA IN 1863. it 

denness with which thunder storms came up in the summer time. 
To illustrate this, it may be said that if a soldier was only a short 
distance away from camp, and the usual signs of a storm made 
their appearance in the heavens, he would have to do some tall 
hustling^ to get back to the siielter of his tent before the rain 
would begin to come down in torrents, and perhaps drench him 
to the skin. Many a soldier did get svich a drenching, before he 
became accustomed to the ways of the region as regards thunder 
storms. 

On the nth of Januar}^ 1S63, the seven companies of the 
Twenty-third Connecticut which had taken passage on the " Che 
Kiang, " in command of the colonel of the regiment, crossed the 
Mississippi River to Algiers, where they took the cars on what 
was then the Opelousas and Great Western Railroad to Brashear 
City, distant about ninety miles almost due west from New Or- 
leans. 

The Twentj-^-third Connecticut was expected to join General 
\\'eitzel in an attack on the Confederate gunboat "J. A. Cotton,' 
up the Teche ; but for some reason they did not do so. 

Brashear City is situated on an island formed by Lake Ches- 
timache, Bayou Boeuf and the Atchafalaya River. During the 
Civil War it was a village containing perhaps thirty or forty build-' 
ings of all kinds. The population could not have been to exceed 
600 in its most prosperous days. 

This place with its high-sounding name had been General 
Banks' depot of su|iplies for his entire army, and a large quantity 
of military stores had been gathered there. In an immense frame 
building which stood on the shore of Berwick Bay a million and 
a half dollars' worth of Goverment stores, so it was said, had 
been piled. 

When the bulk of General Banks' troops went to Port Hudson 
to take part in the now famous siege of that Confederate strong- 
hold, the officers of many of the regiments which were to engage 
in the siege left their personal baggage in an old sugar mill in 
the lower part of the village. The private soldiers, also — some 
of them, at least — left their knapsacks at Brashear City, in one 
of the old sugar mills. This private and government propert}' 
must, of course be faithfully guarded, and protected from capture 



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is: the LO^KXAJTDS of LOTIS TA ^-A IK 18^. 12 

'- MotBdaty,-j2ii. jt&l. — ^Went to l»ed afser scpper iast lagiat. 
and g^ Tip lias rmoirEing; feeling rafber laadily ; bist -sras aui rigiit 

T uebiaT, Jam. 131k. — Took a irai tm fte gnaErier-dteck: 
i:.-r ~ :niic!^; saw groaps of SjiQ^fesb aiid sea roinuSj as well 
-;..r - - - : " -''.Is of birds. Ail quiei dirrliig- the daj. 

-adaj, Jan. I4iii.-^ — Was awaceiied rerr earlj "Snds 
■ by a kacrsh, rBmbSiif; soimd, TrMcii I expected was the 
: f the ship's keel cm the saad. ShortlT afiervranfe, a 
- - . _ >ck that fair! J shook the ship from stem lo siena. It 
r-hook me CfUt cm deck tu domhie-qnick thne, aad as I was pmtfm^ 
on EDT ckrthixtg. Major MfHer msihed in send say^ : • My God ! ire 
i-a-re struck on the rocks '. ' 

• • I went oat an deck ; eieij IMd^ was in coraEisiQii. Arri- 
„r - :■' tf i' 1 ^: L'-'I "isages nve: joc at exf - --- ut 

::.r _r.t. :.:.-r liz'.i.-:. very anxioxts asd t. .:^e 

i-ari>enter to soimd the pumps. Carpenter shonted : ■ Foot and 
a itaif feet of water, sir ! 

• • * Oh, Lord ! the skip is lost I ' exctaimed the captaiiL 

• = AH iflfris wMle the ship was bumpiag- on the rocis .; ptarka 
started f* " - :n and :£oated oS, and lie wster wats gain- 
-U.g in tiT : _ T t'iDe. 

■• We soon saw sn island in ifee distance, and I feir more 
ri :' - ~T mind : the prospect of : ' T^^ i^ 2.11 orier boat, 

-.: . ""' ; r 1 vrith men, or perhaps nth.. _. _ ' way 10 iand wrrh only 
the help of a spar or plank orer rough breakers, was not aH a 

■ • A: : - _3e and a half o'clock ths boals were lowered, 

iDd all ready for the mesi to embark : and afsr eve i v imim hair l 
-eft the ship. L- - StereriS arid mvseif f- -: znd 

"eached the sborr " - T' tafcisg- Eoihing brt 0'_: ^:s. but 

the rest of onr g'oods were brosigiLt oS" by Use crew the next dav. 

*' Our passag-e to the shore was a pieriions one. I exjjeced 
erery minute to strike on ihe ree&. which ra-m - - — -- ^ui gf 
the water. The breakers were passed with mach . : . , and 
we fijially arriTed at the share. When wxA rm aboin Ktrr leet, -fee 
I'Ciat strack a rock, staring is her side and fillsHg the boat with 
water. We then threw osirserres inio the waier and were washed 



14 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 

to the shore. I tell you I felt thankful when my feet were plant- 
ed on the coral rocks, which the island is composed of ! 

" Water and provision were the next things to look after. 
Three boats, after much trouble, brought off the most needed 
articles. In the afternoon a sail hove in sight. We hoisted a 
signal of distress ; she saw it and came for the island. We found 
her to be a wrecker from Green Turtle Key, about fifty miles dis- 
tant from us. They informed us that water was at the other end 
of the island, about five miles distant ; so we moved up there 
and built houses of palm leaves and sticks. The weather is as 
hot here as it is in Connecticut in July and August. 

>f; ;;< <^ >]: '^ ^ 

" Well, we had hard times on Stranger's Key, living on raw 
pork and hardtack, with very poor and brackish water. We were 
on the island eighteen days ; long enough to eat all the provi- 
sions we had saved with the help of the wreckers. * * * * 
" We made a dish of hardtack and pork, called ' scouse ' ; 
traded pork with the negroes from Green Turtle Key for sweet 
potatoes and oranges. * * ^: * 

" I will now close with the promise that if my life is spared, 
I will write more particulars. Direct your letters to 
" Lieut. J. W, Buckingham, 

" Co. I, 23d Regt. C. v., 

" Gen. Banks' Expedition." 

Companies A, H, and I rejoined the regiment at Brashear City 
on the iith of January. The occasion was made one of rejoic- 
ing. 

At Brashear City the Twenty-third Connecticut remained, 
performing guard duty, until the gth of February, when the reg- 
iment was ordered to strike tents and march to the railroad. The 
various companies were then distributed, as a guard along the 
whole length of the Opelousas and Great Western Railroad, from 
Berwick Bay to Jefferson, nearly opposite the Crescent City. 

Headquarters were established at La Fourche Crossing, 
about 30 miles to the east of Brashear City. 

The different companies of the regiment were posted as fol- 
lows : Company E, Captain Lewis Northrop in command, at 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 15 

Bayou Ramos. Company A, Captain Alfred Mills , at Bayou 
Boeuf. Company K, Captain S. G. Bailey, at Tigerville. Com- 
pany I, Captain W. H. May, at Terrebonne. Company B, Cap- 
t.iin James H. Jenkins, at Bayou La Fourche. Company H, 
Captain A. D. Hopkins, at Raceland. Company C, Captain Juli- 
us Sanford, at Bayou des AUemands. Company F, Captain D. 
T. Johnson, at Boutte Station. Company G, Captain G. S. Cro- 
fut, at St. Charles, and Company D, Lieutenant S. ]\L Nichols, at 
Jefferson . 

About the ist of I\L'irch Companies E and I were ordered to 
headquarters, and Company A to reinforce Captain Sanford at 
Bayou des AUemands. By the ist of April, Company B was also 
transferred to Napoleon ville, south of Donaldson ville, and Com- 
pany A to Labadieville, still further south. 

Boutte Station, to which Company F was ordered, was situ- 
ated about 30 miles to the west of New Orleans, and was so des- 
ignated because of the principal man of the settlement, a Mr. 
Boutte. Of the sojourn of Company F at Boutte Station I will 
now tell you something. 

The station consisted of about a dozen building^s, all told. 
The former residence of Mr. Boutte was occupied by the captain 
and the other commissioned officers of our company. The men, 
for the most part occupied the other and smaller buildings ; a 
few, however, living in tents. 

I had very comfortable quarters in one of the smaller dwell- 
ing-houses ; comfortable, that is to say, so far as the quarters 
were concerned The mosquitoes, however, were so numerous 
and troublesome during the nights that the only way we could 
sleep at all was by inclosing our bunks with mosquito netting. 
The extreme closeness of the air in these netting-inclosed bunks, 
on a hot night in the summer time, can perhaps be imagined. I 
sometimes debated the question, in my mind, which was the 
greater evil, the mosquitoes or the stifling air of the inclosed 
bunks .^ 

But the mosqiutoes were not the only pests at Boutte Sta- 
tion ; it vi^as no uncommon thing for the boys to be awakened 
in the night by a slimy lizard crawling across the face or neck, or 
some other part of the body. Some of these lizards were said to 



i6 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 

be poisonous, while others were considered harmless ; and after 
we boys had learned to distinguish the one from the other, the 
lizard problem was considerably simplified. Nevertheless, I very 
much i^refer sleeping and living in a part of the country where 
lizards are unknown. 

The chameleons of Louisiana, a species of lizard, I believe, 
were very interesting to the Yankee boys from the North ; and 
these chameleons abounded at Boutte Station. The boys often 
caught them, and watched them as they assumed the color of the 
object on which they were placed, a leaf or stick, perchance ; and 
more than one letter written home from camp contained a de- 
tailed account of these strange little reptiles and their ways. 

But not by night only were the mosquitoes troublesome at 
Boutte Station : along toward evening, particularly, they were a 
veritable torment — so much so, indeed, that while on guard or 
picket after sunset, the boys had to completely inclose the face and 
neck in mosquito netting. It really seemed to me some evenings 
that I should be eaten alive by these infernal insects, for, not- 
withstanding the netting, the moscjuitoes were very active with 
their proboscides. 

The recollection of my experience with mosquitoes while on 
guard in the evening is made the more vivid by the fact that one 
evening, when these insects were unusually troublesome, and 
while walking my beat with my musket in the most comfortable 
position possible, General Banks and one or two of his staff sud- 
denly appeared. Upon being informed who it was that had so 
suddenly made their appearance, I at once brought my musket 
to a present arms, with an explanation of my seeming lack of 
respect for superior officers. Every word of my expla^iation was 
punctuated with a violent stroke of first one and then the other 
of my hands at the mosquitoes, which seemed to be taking 
a most contemptible advantage of my preoccupation with my 
distinguished visitors. 

I shall never forget the remark of General Banks, as he 
watched me in my frantic efforts to defend myself from the fero- 
cious assaults of the Louisiana mosquitoes : 

"Never mind about presenting arms, my boy ; make your- 
self as comfortable as possible," and with these words he and 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISL\NA IN 1863. 17 

his staff oflicers moved away, all the time, however, slapping 
right and left to escape being- eaten alive by the busy insects 
swarming about them. 

But mosquitoes and lizards were not by any means the only 
nor the largest pests we encountered in the '' Lowlands of Lou- 
isiana " ; alligators were plentiful, and sometimes not only troub- 
lesome, but dangerous. They were so silent in their movements, 
and their color seemed to blend so completely with the color of 
their environment, that usually, before one was aware of their 
presence, they would suddenly appear as though they had then 
and there sprang into existence. If an alligator's fast had not re- 
cently been broken, there was good reason for the boj^s to look 
well to their means of self-defense. 

I distinctly remember that one day while on guard near an 
old, abandoned farm wagon a short distance from the camp (it 
was on the apology for a road leading to the Mississippi River), 
an alligator suddenly appeared in the roadway, having stealthily 
emerged from the near-by woods. It was the tirst alligator of 
any considerable dimensions I had seen in the South ; and I am 
free to confess that I was not a little startled at the sight of the 
animal. He seemed to be coming straight for me, Andrew M. 
Sherman. As he half walked and half crawled toward me, he 
seemed a most hideous object. I discharged my musket. This, 
as I anticipated, brought several of the boys from camp with 
their muskets. It took them but a moment to grasp the situa- 
tion ; but it took a good deal longer than that for us to place that 
ugly alligator hors dti combat. We fired bullet after bullet into 
the animal's seemingly impervious body ; we beat him about the 
head with our musket stocks ; we ran our bayonets into him ; 
we pelted him with the biggest stones the region afforded, but 
these modes of attack were apparently ineffectual. At length, 
one of the more thoughtful of the boys sent a well-directed bullet 
into his savage eye and another into his gaping mouth, and our 
efforts were soon rewarded by seeing the huge animal slowly 
yield up the ghost. Of course, we had to measure him, and he 
measured from the tip of his tail to the tip of his nose about nine 
feet. His carcass was dragged off into the adjacent woods, and 
there left for future inspection by the incredulous. 



iS IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLINA IN 1S63. 

I must say a word about the water we had to drink at Boutte 
Station. It was what was familiarly known as " tank water/' 
As the name indicates, it was rainwater that had been caught in 
an immense wooden tank. Some of these tanks held several 
hundreds of gallons. This tank water, after standing for a few 
weeks, became so foul as to be unfit for a human being to drink; 
indeed, no Connecticut farmer would for a moment think of offer- 
ing it to his cows to drink. And yet, we had to drink it, except we 
walked a distance of four Jiiiles to the Mississippi River, and en- 
joyed the luxury of a drink from the " Father of Waters.'' This 
we occasionally did ; of which, more will be said. The tank 
water, which was of necessity our regular beverage, aside, of 
course, from coffee, after remaining in the wooden tank for a few 
weeks, became filled with what are sometimes termed "wrig- 
glers" (this may not be the scientific name for them, but it is, 
however, a highly suggestive one), a tiny insect of remarkable 
rapidity of movement. 

Once in a while the boys would climb up the side of the tank 
on a ladder or box, so as to look over the top into the water, and 
we would then strike with a stick or stone on the outside of the 
tank, and behold ! the water would suddenly become alive with 
the wrigglers. It verily seemed as if there were millions of 
them. In a few moments the wrigglers would assume their 
usual place around the inner sides of the tank, and become en- 
tirely (|uiescent, until again disturbed by some curious Yankee 
soldier. ' 

Although the water was drawn from a wooden faucet near 
the bottom of the tank, the water was almost invariably tepid 
and unwholesome ; and the wonder is that the company were not 
prostrated with sickness of some sort during the nearly four 
months we were encamped at Boutte Station. You may be as- 
sured the boys did not drink any more of that foul water than 
they were absolutely obliged to; and if the entire company had 
taken to using whisky for a drink it would, it seems to me, have 
been i)erfectly justifiable under the circumstances. And I will not 
deny that some of the boys drank fully as much whisky as tank 
water. 

To walk to the Mississippi River and get a drink from that 



IX THE LOWLANDS OF LOl'ISLVXA IN 1S63. 19 

swift-flo^Ying stream was considered a great treat ; and yet, when 
I tell you that the water we dipped from the " Father of Waters" 
was scarcely less uuhealthful than the aforesaid tank water, you 
will doubtless wonder why we preferred it. The explanation is 
as follows : The Mississippi River, as you may be aware, runs at 
the rate of from seven to ten miles an hour ; one of the conse- 
quences of which is that the water is decidedly muddy. It is a 
red mud, and so full of red mud is the water, that if a cup is 
dipped from the river and permitted to stand for a short time, 
there can be seen at the bottom of the cup a thick, reddish sedi- 
ment. Notwithstanding this, the boys drank the water from the 
Mississippi with great relish. Why? Because it was compara- 
tively cool, and because there were no nasty wrigglers in it. If 
the boys who drank this river water had thereafter " no sand," 
it certainly wasn't because the beverage was lacking in that es- 
sential ingredient of human character. 

It is still a question in my mind, which of Lincoln's boys in 
blue faced the greater peril, those at Port Hudson and Vicksburg, 
or those doing duty in the lowlands of Louisiana (some portions 
of which are from six to ten feet below the surface of the Missis- 
sippi River), with its malarial atmosphere, its unwholesome wa- 
ter and its disease-imparting mosquitoes and poisonous reptiles. 

Early on the morning of the 5th of May, the anniversary, by 
the way, of my nineteenth birthday, a squad of men from our 
company was detailed to cross the Mississippi River, for the pur- 
pose of dispersing a band of Confederate guerillas. I was not 
among the number at first detailed, but wishing for a little relief 
from the monotony of camp life, I asked and received permission 
to accompany the squad. Upon reaching the opposite side of the 
river, we learned that a number of slaves on one of the large 
plantations had risen and had threatened the life of their master, 
a reputed Union man, and that we had been sent over to quell the 
insurrection. This was somewhat mortifying to the boys who 
were itching for a scrap with the Confederates. The oral expres- 
sions of disappointment and chagrin were of such a character as 
to be scarcely proper for repetition in this presence. 

The squad from Company F was in charge of one Lieutenant 
Brainard (so says a letter written home by me soon after the oc- 



20 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLANA IN 1S63. 

curreuce), of another regiment. After marching about a mile 
from the landing-place, making nearly five miles we had marched 
since leaving camp in the morning, we reached the plantation 
where the incipient insurrection was in progress. Lieutenant 
Brainard at once reported to the master whose slaves had risen, 
after which the squad was marched to the slaves' quarters, situ- 
ated in the rear of the house, for the purpose of arresting the 
ringleaders. We found only three of the insurrectionists at their 
quarters, the others having disappeared on hearing of our ap- 
proach. 

Lieutenant Brainard immediately threw out a guard to pre- 
vent the rest of the slaves from leaving the plantation ; but de- 
spite his efforts, about forty of them escaped to the adjacent 
woods. 

At about ten o'clock a. m. the guard was ordered in, and the 
entire squad spent the remainder of the forenoon under the com- 
fortable shade of an old oak tree. 

At twelve o'clock the entire squad was invited into the house 
to dinner ; and for the first time in several months I sat down to 
a table spread with a white cloth, and partook of an excellent 
dinner. 

Dinner over, we all again sought the shelter of the oak tree, 
where we passed the afternoon, some in reading and others in 
lounging and sleeping. 

After tea, another guard was posted. The mosquitoes were 
so troublesome that I got but little sleep during the night. 

Next morning, after breakfast, having accomplished our mis- 
sion, we started, with three slaves as prisoners, recrossed the Mis- 
sissippi, and, at about eleven o'clock, reached camp at Boutte 
Station. 

While Company F was encamped at Boutte Station, one of 
the members of our company and I were permitted to visit Bra- 
shear City — and I hold in my hand the pass given us by our com- 
pany commander. I think you will be interested to hear it read : 



IN THR LOWLANDS OF LOULSL^NA IN 1863. 21 

" BouTTE Station, O. G. W. R. R. 
" La., May 24th, 1863. 
'' Pass 

" Mr. John Woodruff and Andrew Sliermau from Boutte 
Station to Brashear City and return on the 26th. 

" D. T. Johnson, 
" Capt. of Comp. F, 23d Regt., 
" &Dept. P. M." 

I have in my haud, also, two letters, written from Boutte 
Station ; one is dated May 6, 1863, and the other is dated May 
22, 1863. It is needless for me to remark that I prize these let- 
ters very highly ; not alone for the interesting data they contain, 
but for the host of pleasant memories they revive — memories of 
a period of my life when the words of the poet following were 
marvelously true : 

" Hope with a goodly prospect feeds the eye. 
Shows from a rising ground possessions nigh, 
Shortens the distance or o'erlooks it quite. 
So easy 'tis to^travel with the sight." 

In the latter part of May, 1863, orders came to our company 
to prepare at once for removal to Brashear City ; and at twelve 
o'clock on one Monday we boarded the cars, and at about five 
o'clock on the evening of the same day we were at our destina- 
tion. In a few hours our tentS; were pitched, and our regimental 
camp was once more arranged. 

The bulk of General Banks' troops were laying siege to Port 
Hudson ; and in their ab.sence. General " Dick " Taylor, a son of 
ex-President " Zack " Taylor, by the way, resolved to drive from 
western Louisiana the Union soldiers left there chiefly for guard 
duty. A small Union force was, therefore, concentrated at Bra- 
shear City to meet General Taylor, including a battery from 
Rhode Island ; Colonel Holmes, of our regiment, was placed in 
command of the troops at that point. Three companies of our 
regiment were advantageously posted along the line of the rail- 
road leading from the east into Brashear City. It was expected 
however, that the principal resistance to the Confederates would 
be made at Brashear City. 



22 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 

On the ist of June, 1863, the Confederates attacked with a 
small force the hospital at Berwick Cit^-, another settlement with 
a high-sounding name, on the opposite side of a bay (Berwick 
Bay) about an eighth of a mile in width, which separates Bra- 
/ shear City and Berwick City. Company K of our regiment in- 
stantly embarked on a small steamer lying at the village wharf, 
and was soon followed by Companies G, I and C. This force, in 
command of Captain Crofut of Company G, advanced rapidly, 
and drove off the Confederates on the double-quick, afterward 
covering those who were engaged in removing the Union sick and 
wounded and the Government property. 
(. Colonel Holmes was soon prostrated with sickness, and he 

was not again able to perform the duties of a soldier. 
I Lieutenant-Colonel Wordeu being ill, the command of the 

regiment then devolved upon Major Miller. 

Lieutenant Colonel Stickuey, of a Massachusetts regiment, 
\ now assumed the command at Brashear City. 

Under the severe discipline of Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney 
our regiment knew no rest. Despite the warning given to the 
] commanding officer, by Major Miller, that "Colonel Stickney, 
you are killing the men of my regiment ! " the men at Brashear 
City were kept moving every day, and lay upon their arms almost 
every night, and the result was that in ten days half the entire 
number of soldiers at Brashear City were on the sick list. 

On the 3d of June our company received orders to fall into 
line with guns and accoutrements. Because of the impaired 
physical condition of many of the men. Lieutenant Middlebrooks, 
who was in command of Company F (the captain being at the 
time provost marshal of Brashear City), announced that anyone 
w'ho did not feel able to march could remain in camp ; and some 
four or five fell out of the ranks. We then, in command of Lieu- 
tenant Middlebrooks, marched to the wharf in the village, where 
we took a small steamer across Berwick Bay to Berwick City. 
Companies H and K soon followed us across the bay. 

Our forces further up the country had captured, a tew days 
previously, a large number of cattle and horses, and they had 
been driven down to Berwick City for safekeeping. It hav- 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN iS6.v 23 

ing been reported that the Confederates purposed attempting their 
recapture, we were sent across to foil the attempt. 

Soon after crossing, we saw at some distance above Berwick 
Cit3' the Confederate force drawn up in line of battle, apparently 
awaiting attack from us. For some reason, perhaps the fear of 
our artillery on the Brashear City side, the Confederates did not 
attack us; and as the Union force was, as I remember it, much 
smaller than that of the enemy, our commanding officer deemed 
it the better part of valor not to bring on an engagement. So 
we contented ourselves with guarding the cattle and horses, and 
preventing their recapture by the needy Confederates. This we 
did by gathering them at the lower end of the village, under the 
cover of our guns on the Brashear City side. 

Among the incidents of the day in Berwick City were the 
following : One of our men who ventured too near the Con- 
federate lines, had a horse shot from under him ; and several ne- 
groes who had accompanied the Union forces across the bay were 
killed by the enemy. The Confederates cherished a special dis- 
like for negroes in any way affiliated with Yankee soldiers. 

During our stay in Berwick City I procured a bridle, capt- 
ured a horse, and rode bareback to my heart's content. In capt- 
uring the horse, I strayed upon the Confederates' picket line ; 
and having left my musket with one of my comrades, and being, 
therefore, in a defenseless state, I had a narrow escape from capt- 
ure. Some of the boys who had watched me said afterward they 
thought [ was " a goner." 

Peter Hughes — " Bishop Hughes," we used to call him — a 
jolly son of the Emerald Isle, who belonged to my company, wish- 
ing to have, as he expre.ssed it, "a little fun," tied a red hand- 
kerchief to the end of his bayonet and audaciously waved it in 
the face of a big steer ; whereupon the steer became infuriated 
and ran toward Hughes with evidently murderous intent. At all 
ev^ents, Hughes took to his heels, and barely escaped being gored 
to death by his four-legged pursuer. Hughes was thoroughly 
frightened. In subsequently relating the incident to the boys in 
camp, he invariably concluded with : " Och ! begorra ! but Oi'll 
uiver flag a cow agin ! '' and I don't believe he ever did. 



24 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 

It was this same comrade who expressed himself so emphat- 
ically with regard to the quinine with which he was dosed in the 
hospital, whither he had been taken for some illness. The qui- 
nine must have been given him in large doses, with the usual 
ringing sensation in the head ; and it may have produced other 
unpleasant sensations, for after his return to the company, his 
displeasure found vigorous expression in the words: "D — n the 
the kenan ! D — n the kenan ! " 

Another characteristic of Comrade Hughes, which clings like 
a thistle to my memory, was his inability to keep step in march- 
ing ; with the inevitable consequence that the comrade in front 
of him was not infrequently obliged to sing out : " Keep off my 
heels, will you ? " 

I have in my hands, Mr. President and Comrades, a letter 
written to "my best girl" at home, containing a statement of 
many of the circumstances of the expedition across Berwick Bay, 
of which I have been speaking. The letter was written from 
" Brashear City, June 4, 1863, Eighty-six miles west of New Or- 
leans." 

You will notice that it is written on a sheet of paper con- 
taining one of the patriotic embellishments so common in " the 
sixties." 

About the middle of June, 1863, Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney, 
having been informed that the Confederates were coming down 
the Bayou La Fourche, from the Plaquemine district, took all the 
men he thought could be spared from Brashear City, and moved 
down to La Fourche Crossing, about thirty miles to the eastward, 
toward New Orleans. Companies B and E of our regiment were 
already at La Fourche Crossing. 

When our company was drawn up in line preparatory to 
starting for La Fourche Crossing, I fell in with the rest of the 
boys. Our commanding officer. Lieutenant Middlebrooks, upon 
seeing me in the ranks, said : 

"Andrew, you can't go; you're not able"; and notwith- 
standing my reiterated wish to accompany the boys, I was not 
permitted to go to La Fourche Crossing. 

The fact is, I was just out of the local hospital, and was very 



IN THi; LOWLANDS O.F LOUISL^NA IN 1863. 25 

much reduced in strenijth from the disease so prevalent amoni,' 
the boys in the hivvlands of Louisiana. So I remained at I>rashear 
City, with what result, we shall see. 

Soon after the arrival of the reinforcements taken by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Stickney to La Fourche Crossing, the Union force 
there was attacked by the Confederate cavalry ; but the enemv 
were repulsed after a sharp engagement. 

At about 5 o'clock on the evening of June 21st, the Confed- 
erate infantry and artillery, in command of Gen. " Dick " Tay- 
lor, attacked our forces at La Fourche Crossing, the latter of 
whom were behind breastworks thrown up for the occasion. The 
I'nion forces were supportetl by several pieces of light artillery, 
planted just inside the breastworks. . The Confederates, full of 
whisky and gunpowder (as was ascertained by an examination 
of their canteens left on the battlet^eld in front of the Union 
breastworks), which made them utterly regardless of life, came 
up to the very mouths of our cannon during the engagement, 
and, placing their hands upon them, demanded their surrender. 
The audacious Confederates were either shot down or ba\-oiieteti 
where they stood. 

The engagement at La Fourche Crossing, which lasted about 
thirty minutes, was a hot one ; and demonstrated the fact that 
Connecticut nine months troops could tight with honor to their 
State and country. 

I have been told by comrades who took part in the fight at 
La Fourche Crossing, that on the following morning the Confed- 
erate dead and wounded were found in windrows on the field in 
front of our breastworks. 

Our loss was comparatively small, owing, doubtless, to the 
fact that the Union troops were behind breastworks ; but among 
the killed and wounded were some of the Hovver of the regiment. 

Company F did not escape. 

The comparative numerical weakness of the L'nion force for- 
bade a pursuit of the enemy. 

On the 22d of June the Confederates sent into our lines a flag 
of truce ; and over a hundred of their dead and wounded were 
delivered up to them. We captured about tifty prisoners. 



26 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 

Of the engagement at La Fourche Crossing, we at Brashear 
City did not, of course, learn until some time afterward. 

On the 23d of June Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney, in pursu- 
ance of orders from headquarters, fell back with the forces un- 
.. ( der his immediate command, including the bulk of the Twenty- 
third Connecticut, on New Orleans, thus uncovering Brashear 
City. 

The Twenty-third Connecticut were encamped in New Or- 
leans until June 26th, when they were ordered to Camp Fair, 
IVIetaire Racecourse. 

Let us now return to Brashear City. 
C At about ^ o'clock on the morning of June 23d the Confeder- 

ates began throwing shell from Berwick City across the interven- 
ing bay into Brashear City ; but every shell went clear over our 
' regimental camp and, so far as 1 am now able to recall, exploded 
in an open field in the rear, without injury to men or camp. Li 
retrospect, those were most significant facts. 

It was great sport, as I distinctly recollect, for the boys, few 
( of whom had ever witnessed such a sight, to watch the shells in 
their encircling aerial flight across the bay and as they exploded 
in our rear. 

This almost incessant shelling, which was kept up for two 
hours or more, was evidently, as we learned when it was too late 
to profit by the knowledge, done to divert the attention of the 
Union troops in Brashear City ; for during all this time a Confed- 
f erate force was marching by a circuitous and extremely difficult 
route to attack us in the rear. To reach our rear the enemy had 
to get through a dense swamp, which had been considered im- 
passable by the Union troops. This probably accounts for the 
fact that no Union pickets had been placed at that point, and the 
alert enemy, taking advantage of our neglect, got into our rear 
" as slick as a pin." 

Major R, C. Anthony seems to have been in command at 
Brashear City on that fateful June morning in 1863. 

At about 8 o'clock on the morniiT^ mentioned, the Confeder- 

I ates, consisting of about 800 men, mostly Texans, with a yell 

that made one's hair stand on end "like quills upon the fretful 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOl"ISL\NA IN 1S63. 27 

porcupine," came rushing- in from a piece (jf woods just back of j 
the village upon a thoroughly surprised Union camp. 

We had not to exceed 150 effective men at Rrashear City, 
and of those only about fifty were formed in battle line in one of 
our company streets, the remainder being scattered about the 
village, some having been firing from behind rude breastworks '" 
on the shore of the bay, across the bay, into Berwick City. Oth- 
ers had been loitering about the village at different i)oints — and 
all totally unprepared for attack. 

The few men of the Twenty-third, under the command of 
two of our regimental captains, Jenkins and Crofut, after making | 
a brief but heroic stand against the overwhelming Confederate 
force, were compelled to surrender. 

I do not hesitate to declare that the pluck exhibited by those 
fifty men and their oiificers was of the highest character. 

As the Confederates moved down toward the lower part of 
the village, they encoimtered some resistance from isolated 
squads of Union soldiers ; and ni several instances individual 
Union soldiers stood and fired at the oncoming Confederates. 

For example : While facing, in the vicinity of the local hos- 
pital, and heroically fighting two or three Confederate soldiers, 
Thomas C. Cornell, of Company D, fell, shot in the forehead. 
Later in the day, I saw the lifeless body of ComradeCornell lying 
where he had fallen. 

A member of Company F, Samuel Oulds, about eighteen 
years of age, a special chum of mine, who had just been dis- 
charged from the local hospital, was wounded in the arm while 
fighting single-handed, in Indian fashion, from behind a tree, as 
the Confederates came into the village. Comrade Oulds' arm was 
afterward amputated, in consequence of which he died seventeen 
days later, and his body now lies in Southern soil. He was as 
brave a soldier as ever wore the Union blue. Memorial Day 
never comes round but this comrade is uppermost in my thought. 

I was at a considerable distance from the regimental camp 
when the Confederates came rushing into Brashear City with 
their unearthly yell. With others — I distinctly recollect "Sam- 
my" Oulds of my company as having been one of them — I had 
been down on the shore of Berwick Bay, behind the rude earth- 



2S IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOX'ISIANA IX rSoj. 

works there constructed, firing across the bay at Confederates who 
had climbed on the housetops, evidently for the purpose of watchf 
ing the movements of the Union troops on the Brashear City side. 
Among those on the housetops, as we subsequently learned, was 
one General Green. Our firing across the baj' was not altogether 
ineffective, for I saw several heads diick after the discharge of 
our muskets, among them General Green's, as I was informed by 
a Confederate soldier, after the fight at Brashear City. 

When I first saw the Confederates they were rushing in 
squads of fifteen or twenty men through the streets ot the village, 
yelling and firing as they came. I was then entirely separated 
from my company comrades, and the few Union soldiers who 
were in sight were unknown to me. With a few of these un- 
known soldiers I started for the lower part of the village, our ob- 
jective being, so far I can now recall, the big frame building on 
the shore of Berwick Bay- Here we could join a squad of the 
Twenty-fourth Massachusetts regiment, which had been perform- 
ing special guard duty there. 

It was while on our way to this building ihai. lor the first 
time in my army life, I saw a Union soldier wounded. I shall 
never forget the scene ! This soldier, whoever it may have been 
(^and 1 have often wondered), was hit somewhere in the lower 
part of the body : wiih a shriek that I can now almost hear, he 
clapped both hands over his abdomen, bending nearly double as 
he did so. The wound was probably fatal 

The bullets were now flying all about me ; they seemed to 
be coming from two or three directions, and it verily seemed as 
if every bullet was aimed at me, and that each particular bullet 
would hit me. This feeling, however, gradually wore off. Still. 
1 prefer being in this place to facing Confederate bullets, as they 
flew about me with their '"zip," "zip," on that June day forty- 
five years ago. 

Instead of going into the big building for which, with others. 
I had started, I ran down the railroad track a short distance and 
climbed into an open freight car standing on the track. 

From this car I fired for a few minutes at the onrushing Con- 
federates. It was a strange sight to see the enemy rushing furi- 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 29 

ously around the corners of the adjacent buildings, yelling as 
they came. Each one seemed to mean business. 

The car into which 1 had climbed had been fitted up with 
wooden railroad sleepers on the sides and ends for reconnoitering 
purposes along the line of the railroad. These sleepers formed 
an excellent protection. In the car, when I reached it, were a 
few Union soldiers, and also a few negroes. I do not recollect 
whether these negroes were armed or not, but I do distinctly 
recollect that the Confederate fire was soon concentrated on this 
car; the bullets fairly rained against the side nearest the upper 
part of the village — evidently because of the presence of the 
negroes. 

Tumbling at length to this fact, I concluded it was the better 
part of valor to change my base, which I did by slipping from 
the rear side of the car aiid falling into line with the squad of 
Massachusetts soldiers which had just emerged from the big 
building where they had been performing guard duty. To have 
remained in that freight car five minutes longer, would have 
been certain, and brutal, death to a white soldier ; of that I was 
satisfied. 

As the squad of Union soldiers were marching parallel to, 
and in the rear of the train of freight cars on the track, and as 
the sergeant in command, a large, fine-looking fellow, was pass- 
ing the opening between two of the cars, a Confederate bullet hit 
him in the left arm. 

The squad of Massachusetts men stood for a few minutes 
after coming out from behind the freight cars and fired at the 
Confederates ; but they were soon overwhelmed, and we scat- 
tered to places of safety ; each one looking out for himself. 

I had fired all my ammunition and, seeing that it was all up 
with us, I threw my musket and empty cartridge box into a deep 
ditch just above the railroad track and started toward camp. 

I was soon accosted by a Confederate major, who personally 
demanded my surrender ; and as this seemed the only sensible 
thing to do under the circumstances, I readily acceded to the 
demand. 

Seeing that I was without a musket, the officer inquired of 
me what had become of it, and upon being informed that I had 



30 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 

thrown it into the water, he manifested his appreciation of my 
thoughtfuiness for Uncle Sam by a broad, good-natured smile. 

As near as I can recollect, it was at about 1 1 o'clock in the 
1 day when the firing in the village ceased and the Confederates 
took possession ; it may not, however, have been later than 
about 10 o'clock. 

About 12 o'clock, the Union prisoners were marched up to a 
spot near where the Rhode Island battery had been stationed. 
Here, the Confederates gave us a few pounds of wheat fl(»ur ; and 
this, so far as I observed, was the only food they gave us 
while were in their hands, notwithstanding they had captured 
enough hardtack, salt-horse and other rations to supply an army 
for several weeks. 

Of the flour dealt out to us by the enemy we made what 
were termed "flapjacks,'' which I assure you were greatly en- 
joyed by hungry Union soldiers. The flapjacks were supple- 
mented by a small quantity of coffee and sugar, which we were 
fortunate enough to have in our haversacks. 

As for our knapsacks, the Confederates had captured them, 
and, indeed, everything else belonging to us except what we had 
on our backs. In my knapsack I had several letters which I had 
found in the garret of General '• Dick" Taylor's house near the 
Mississippi River ; some choice shells picked up on Ship Island. 
There must, also, have been other articles in my knapsack left in 
my tent, including, probably, a few love letters. Besides my 
extra clothing, there were in my tent several orangewood sticks 
for canes, which I had intended bringing home. I have often 
wondered what became of these articles, captured by the Confed- 
erates on that June morning. 

From "The Twenty-third Regiment Connecticut Volunteer 
Infantry in the War of the Rebellion," I quote the following : 

" The enemy, after the repulse at La Fourche, retreated 
down the railroad to Brashear, capturing small detachments 
guarding the different stations. Captain Julius Sandford. Compa- 
ny C, at Bayou Boeuf, finding it impossible to hold the place, 
fired the large sugar house in which was stored a large quantity 
of officers' baggage and regimental stores belonging to the troops 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 51 

engaged before Port Hudson, to prevent them from falling into 
the hands of the enemy. ' 

On the 25th and 26th of June the Union soldiers captured at 
Brashear City and at Bayou Boeuf were paroled. I have with me 
a duplicate of my parole. I prize it highly, I will read it : 

** Headquarters C. S. Forces, South of Red River. 
" Brashear City, La., June 25th, 1863. 

" I, Private A. M. Sherman, Co. F 23d Regt. C. V^ols., do 
solemnly swear and pledge this, my Parole of Honor, that I will 
not take up arms against the Confederate States, or their allies, 
nor in any manner whatsoever aid, assist, or abet the Govern- 
ment of the United States, during the existing war, until regularly 
and duly exchanged. 

"A. M. Sherman. 
" Attest : A. J. Watt, A. D. C, 
" C. S. A." 

Across this parole duplicate are written the words : " Attest, 
R. C. Anthony, Maj. U. S. A., Cmdg," in the major's hand- 
writing. 

The parole also bears the signature of the Confederate aide- 
de-camp, as well as my own. 

The commissioned officers captured at Brashear City and 
at Bayou Boeuf, were taken to Tyler, Texas, where they were 
kept as prisoners of war until July, 1864, a period of thirteen 
months. 

It was a sad sight to see the ofHcers — particularly of our own 
regiment — turn toward Texas and a Confederate prison ; but they 
deported themselves like men. The scene of the parting of the 
officers and privates on this occasion is ineffaceably impressed 
upon my memory. Of the faces of our officers about to start for 
Texas those of Captain Hopkins and Lieutenant Hurlburt ("Char- 
lie"' Hurlburt, as he was called when off duty) alone linger in 
my visual memory. 

At the end of three days the captured Union soldiers started, 
under Confederate guard, for the Union lines, then at Algiers. 
When 1 tell you that fully nine-tenths of the Union prisoners were 
convalescents, but recently discharged from the hospital at Bra- 
sheaf City, you will not be surprised to hear that we were sevew 



32 IX THE LOWLAXDS OF LOUISIAXA IK iS6.;. 

days in marching a distance of about one hundred miles : and 
that on that march, so enfeebled were most of the boys from 
recent illness that the line was several miles in length. 

So far as I was able to observe, the Confederate guard were 
very considerate in their treatment of their prisoners : which i^ 
accounted for, as I have always thought, by the fact that the 
guard was composed of Te.xans, whose ancestors were from the 
North and West. 

I conversed very freely with several Confederate officers on 
the march toward the Union lines, about the war, its causes, its 
progress and its probable outcome. One otttcer, in particular, 
seemed to enjoy the boyish enthusiasm with which I conducted 
my side of the discussion. 

Many incidents of great interest occurred on our march ; of 
these. I can now relate only a few. 

For at least one-half the distance from Brashear City to Al- 
giers we marched on the railroad, the general course of which 
was east and west. With the southern sun beating directly down 
upon us, and with dense forest on either side of the track, which 
shut out any air that may have been stirring, the heat on those 
June days was almost unbearable to men so recently out of the 
hospital. 

I recall that on one afternoon during the march on the rail- 
road I became so thoroughly exhausted from the heat and fatigue 
that, staggering down the embankment, and finding a compara- 
tively dry spot, I lay down, with the feeling that I should not 
rise again ; indeed, I did not care whether I ever rose again or 
not. I fell asleep. After an hour or more I was awakened by 
the Confederate rear guard, and, very much refreshed from my 
sleep, I resumed the march toward the Union lines. 

On either side of the railroad on which we marched it was 
decidedly swampy, and there was an abundance of stagnant 
water, covered with a thick, green scum. This water the boys 
were sometimes obliged to drink to relieve their extreme thirst. 
Kneeling down on the ground, we would push aside the ofttimes 
heavy scum and drink water, every mouthful of which contained 
poisonous matter. 

Alligators were numerous all along the railroad, and some 



IN THK LOWLANDS OF LorLSL\NA IN 1863. 35 

were of such dimensions that we did not care, in our defenseless 
condition, to disturb them. 

My chum, during- most of the march, was "Pep" Short, a 
member of my company. On the march, the Confederates did 
not give us one morsel of food to eat ; hence it was forage, or go 
hungry, and the latter we were disinclined to do. We had 
brought a little coffee and sugar with us from Brashear City, and 
occasionally stopping by the way we would build a little fire and 
boil some coffee in the familiar and indispensable tin can. A few 
ears of sweet corn plucked from an adjacent field and roasted 
over our coffee fire were considered a great treat by two hungry 
Union soldiers. That we had good teeth for eating sweet corn 
*' off the cob" goes without saynig. 

As for blankets, neither " Pep " nor 1 had one ; henceforth 
the Confederates would sleep under our gray blankets. I recall 
that on one night in particular our only coverings were the rail- 
ings of the rude southern fence under which we bunked. The 
bare ground was, of course, our only bed. These things I men* 
tion, not as examples of the hardships we endurexl, but because 
of the ludicrous aspect of these incidents as I now look back on 
them from the standpoint of present comforts. 

Tired from the long march, and almost famished after a 
prolonged fast, my chum and I came one evening to a plantation 
which had been abandoned by everyone ex'cept a few negroes. 
Entering- a hut, we requested the occupants, a somewhat aged 
negro couple, to furnish us with some hoecake and sweet pota- 
toes, which they willingly did. The potatoes were baked in the 
ashes of the big fireplace and the hoecake was cooked in the tyj)- 
ical southern iron frying pan. That late supper, so far as our 
relish of it was concerned, could not be surp;isseil by the best 
course dinner ever served at Delmonico's. 

In payment for that appetizing plantation supper I gave the 
negroes a five-dollar Confederate bill, which 1 had been sacredly 
keeping to bring home as a souvenir, and I received as change a 
two-dollar Confederate bill. This two-dollar bill I brought home 
and I have it among my modest collection of Civil War sou- 
venirs. Inasmuch as the Confederates were so soon to reoccu|)v 



34 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLINA IN 1S63. 

that portion of the State, their money was readily accepted by 
the negroes who fed us. 

On reaching- Boutte Station my chum and I struck off into 
the country about half a mile, our objective being a house which 
we had frequently visited during our four months' sojourn at that 
place. The family, we discovered on reaching the house, were 
all gone and the doors were fastened. 

We were two hungry soldiers ; we knew this family during 
our stay at Boutte Station to have been in sympathy with the 
Southern cause, hence our scruples were easily overcome. We 
broke open one of the doors, and entered and ransacked the 
house from cellar to garret in the hope of finding something to 
cat. All we found were two or three loaves of dry bread, covered 
with green mold ; we were not hungry enough to eat such ra- 
tions. Continuing our search, we came across an old wooden 
chest, painted red. It took us but a few moments to go through 
that chest, and our search was rewarded by the discovery of what, 
upon due examination, proved to be two bottles of good whis- 
ky. " Pep '' Short confiscated one bottle, and, more for the mis- 
chief of it than otherwise, I appropriated the other. We then re- 
sumed the march toward the Union lines. 

Although I was not addicted to the use of strong drink in 
any form while in the army, I did, after our arrival at Algiers, use 
some of the confiscated Confederate whisky ; sharing it, howev- 
er, with my old tent chum, whom I had not seen since the morn- 
ing the bulk of Company F and the regiment went to La Fourche 
Crossing, where they helped to whip the Confederates so nicely. 
The bottle I brought home, and it was in use for several years 
before it was accidentally broken. 

The first turtle soup I ever ate was in Algiers, during my 
short stay there ; and for that soup I paid, in greenbacks, two 
dollars per plate, and I was so hungry, after having boarded with 
the. Con federates for about ten days, that I think I would have 
been willing to pay double that sum. 

The paroled prisoners of the Twenty-third Connecticut were 
soon started for Ship Island, there to await exchange. 

Concerning the regimental organization, the following extract 
from "The Twenty-third Regiment Connecticut Volunteer In- 



IN THE LOWLANDS OP LOULSLVNA IN 1863. .■^s 

fantry in the War of the Rebellion " will ^ive us some informa- 
tion : 

"July 1st, the regiment was in camp at Congo Square, New 
Orleans. July 4th, as an attempt to recapture the city of New 
Orleans was expected, the regiment, together with all the troops 
quartered there, was on duty patrolling the city. July 25tli, the 
regiment was ordered to camp at Bonnet Carre." 

I thank you, INlr. President and Comrades, for the opportun- 
ity of reviewing, with you, a portion of our experiences in the 
Lowlands of Louisiana in 1S63. 



ERR.\TA. 

Page 15 (top line). For "Captain Alfred Mills," read Cap- 
tain Alfred Wells. 



i<o IX TKP: LOWIvAXDS GF LOT'ISIAXA XX rS65, 



Addenda 



The fwo letters follo'wing may be of fnferest to the surviving' 
rnembers of the Twenty -third Connecticut, and perhaps to other 
soldiers froni the -'Xvitnieg Stale" who served in the lowhinds of 
Louisiana dviring the Civil War ; 

Ship Isi,.tM>, Gulf of Mexico, 
July 28, 1863. 
Dear -^^^-^ r 

Vours of the 12th in."*t. was duly received. * * 

* * When } tell you that this island on which we have 

])een encamped since the first part of the month, consists almost 
entirely of line, whit^ sand, with scarcely a tree for shade or 
ornament, antl with only here and there a patch of grass, you 
cannot doulit the propriety of applying the word •' barren" to our 
present (piarters. In this sand our tents are pitched, and on this 
sand, with a mere blanket for a bed, we lie, and sleep as best we 
can, with the various insects that minister to our (dis)comfort. 
( )ur shoes arc never free from the irritating presence of this sand. 
^'ou may find it difficult to believe me when I say that from 10.- 
30 A. M. till about 1.30 p. M. the sand is so hot from the sun's rays 
that an attempt on t)ur part to walk in it with bare feet, as some 
of the acclimated natives do, "vvill prove so painful as to deter one 
from a second attempt. 

The comfortable nights which we invariably have offset, to 
a considerable degree, other inconveniences we suffer. 

Every steamer that lands at the wharf is eagerly watched 
by the boys, in the oft-disappointed hope that it is the one to 
take us to the land of trees, and shrubbery, and grass, and to our 
regimental comrades wlio are strangely endeared to us. 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOflSL^NA IN iS6.v 37 

We ha\c picked up on the beaches of this island, in our 
wanderings here and there, ipiite a few pretty shells, and as the 
M^jhting- days of the 23d are now passed, there is a good prospect 
t)f my getting some of them home for preservation, as reminders 
of our sojourn in the malarial lowlands of Louisiana, and espe- 
cially of our encampment on this barren isle. 

Our journey from New Orleans to Ship Island was an amus- 
ing as well as an exciting one. A portion of the journey lay 
through a narrow canal, and our conveyance was a small stern- 
wheel steamboat, which in the North would be a decided curiosi- 
ty. The wheel by which these boats were propelled was at the 
rear end of the vessel, and resembled an overshot wheel, such as 
used to be seen in many of the old mills at the North " befo' de 
wah." The amusing part of our journey through the canal con- 
sisted of the frequency with which the steamer ran first against 
one side and then against the other of the narrow canal, some- 
times nearly taking us off our feet with the short, sharp, abrupt 
manner in which the homely craft came to a standstill, and caus- 
ing great hilarity among the boys, who, after a good rest, were 
overflowing with animal spirits. The banter of which the i)oor 
captain of the boat was the object, must have thoroughly tested 
his peppery Southern temper. 

Soon after entering Lake Pontchartrain we made a brief land- 
ing and re-embarked on a sidewheel steamer, and after a delight- 
ful trip through the lake, with its picturesque surroundings, we 
reached Ship Island, the first sight of which was productive of no 
little merriment on the part of those who had not been there 
before. 

The only circumstance to mar the enjoyment of our trip 
through Lake Ponchartrain was the incessant reports of the pres- 
ence of Confederate guerillas along the shores, ready to hre into a 
comparatively defenseless transport, and perhaps send us to the 
bottom, wdth no chance for self-defense ; but the guerrillas, for 
some reason, did not appear, and we went on our way unmo- 
lested. We were, however, kept on the qui rhr every moment 
until we emerged in the broad waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Many of the boys are making an effort to " kill time " with 
cards and checkers ; others have suddenly blossomed into stud- 



38 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1S63, 

ents, and a book or periodical is their constant companion. I 
have re-read "Hamlet" and "The Lady of Lyons" with new 
pleasure, and have thus made more tolerable our life on this 
waste of nature. But already I have, I fear, exceeded the limits 

of acceptability ; so with kindest regards to Mrs. , and 

hoping that letter- writing between us may soon cease, I remain 
as ever, Yours sincerely, 

A. M. Sherman. 

As I close my letter, a report is in circulation that we are soon 
to return to New Orleans, ])reparatory to being mustered out. I 
only hope it is true. 

[The above letter must have been written early in the day, 
for at about nine o'clock in the evening of the 28th of July the 
paroled prisoners of our regiment had rejoined the regiment at 
Bonnet Carre, above the Crescent City.] 



IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 39 



Cairo, 111., August 17, 1863. 

Dear : 

After an exceedingly interesting trip of about ten clays 
from Bonnet Carre, La., we arrived here to-day, and I hasten to 
write you, with the expectation that this letter will reach you 
some hours before the Twenty-third will reach Connecticut. 

We left New Orleans on Tuesday, July 2Sth, the same day 
of our arrival from Ship Island, and reached Bonnet Carre about 
nine o'clock the same day. 

On Sunday morning, August 9th, we left Bonnet Carre on 
the river steamer " Chamberville," and the ecstacy of the boys 
in realizing that their faces were turned homeward is indescrib- 
able. 

On our way up the Mississippi we stopped several times : 
at Port Hudson, the scene of the never-to-be-forgotten "forlorn 
hope," on the iith of August. Here we buried one of Company 
E's boys. 

On the morning of the 13th we went ashore and buried in 
sadness, on the banks of the swiftly-flowing river, another of E's 
boys. 

On the 14th we arrived at Vicksburg, where we spent a few 
hours in hastily inspecting the famous battleground, and where 
we buried one of Company B's boys. At Vicksburg we changed 
boats, going on board the "Albert Pierce." 

On the 15th, after leaving Vicksburg, we threw overboard a 
negro, who had died on the boat. 

We stopped for an hour or so at Helena, Ark., where I pur- 
chased some cheese at the rate of seventy-five cents per pound ; 
and more delicious cheese I never tasted. 

One of our chief pleasures on the homeward trip was the 
fresh bread served out to the boys by the quartermaster at seve- 
ral different points where we stopped. 

To say that the Mississippi River is crooked, is to convey a 
very inadequate idea of its tortuous course, which frequently ren- 
ders it necessary to sail many miles to gain a short distance. 

But our trip was not entirely pleasant. I cannot tell you 



40 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLINA IN 1S65, 

how many times our steamer, a stern-wheeler, ran against a huge 
snag in the river, forcing the steam from the boiler in great 
clouds, and producing, until we became accustomed to it, the 
greatest consternation among the boys, of whom there must have 
been nearly 1,000 on board, as portions of regiments other than 
the Twenty-third, came up the river with us. But the snags and 
the escaping steam were not our greatest annoyance by any 
means. 

Along the western shore, at several points, small bodies of 
Confederate soldiers could be seen ; and the report coming to us 
at one of our landing-places that the Confederates had artillery 
and would fire into our boat, we were got in readiness to. land 
and punish these audacious troublers. Several rifle balls were 
fired into our boat, but fortunately no one was hurt, and we did 
not land, although the boys were itching to do so. 

Making a landing for a supply of wood for the boat, several 
of the boys assisted in loading, taking great sticks on their shoul- 
ders and running across the gang-plank with the agility of old 
salts. 

As we approached Island No. 10 all eyes were wide open to 
get sight of this scene of so many thrilling naval exploits ; and 
how glad we were to set our feet on loyal soil at this place ! 

We expect soon to leave here on the cars for home. Thi^> 
is probably my last letter to you by mail ; the next one, I hope 
to bring myself. Till then, good-bye. 

Yours sincerely, 

A. M. Sherman, 



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